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Your guide to New York City-area airport transfers

By Fareboom Staff, Mon, Apr 4, 2016

There are three major airports in the New York City area: John F. Kennedy International Airport (airport code: JFK), LaGuardia Airport (airport code: LGA), and Newark Liberty International Airport (airport code: EWR). But they’re not very close to each other. Ask someone from my family, who lives in north New Jersey, to take a flight from LaGuardia, instead of Newark, and there will be a lot of complaining. And it’s no wonder; not only are the airports not particularly close; travel between them isn’t particularly efficient. This means that your best bet is to try to avoid having to make a transfer from one of these airports to another.

If that’s not a possibility, here’s what you need to know:

Before you scroll down….

No matter what transport option you choose, there’s one essential thing to remember: Give yourself a lot of time!

You may see a car service or bus ride estimated at 50 – or even 30 -- minutes, but remember that’s not counting traffic or other incidents. And remember also that you have to go through customs (if you arrive from overseas) and baggage claim when you arrive at the first airport, and then through check-in and security at the second airport. Basically, transferring between NYC-area airports is not something you can do in an hour or so.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s how to transfer between…

…JFK and LaGuardia

Option 1: Shuttle service. There are three officially approved shuttle services that run between these airports. You can find them listed on this extremely helpful page from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Options and prices vary greatly. For example, for the regularly scheduled NYC Airporter shuttle, you could pay as little as $14 per person (free for kids under 3). If you want a private, scheduled shuttle, you could pay around $75.

Option 2: A taxi. You can take a taxi from the easy-to-locate taxi stand (just follow the signs) at either airport. Taxi fare will probably cost around $50 or more.

Option 3: Private car service (or Uber or Lyft). There aren’t any Port Authority-approved private car services, although there is a car service desk where you can hire one directly at either airport. This site offers some very helpful advice on choosing a reliable private car service. Getting quotes in advance and checking out online travel forum reviews are also good ideas.

…JFK and Newark

Option 1: AirTrain and Public transit.

Both Newark and JFK airports have an AirTrain – a train that travels through the different airport terminals, and connects with public transit. Unfortunately, the two AirTrains aren’t directly linked. Here’s how to use them:

From Newark:

1. Take AirTrain Newark to the New Jersey Transit Newark Liberty International station.

2. From there, find a New Jersey Transit train that’s going to New York Penn Station (and take it, of course).

3. From Penn Station, take the “E" Subway line to Jamaica Station, where you can connect to AirTrain JFK and ride to your terminal at JFK Airport.

3. At Penn Station, find a New Jersey Transit train that stops at the Newark Liberty International Airport station (and take it, of course).

4. At Newark Liberty International Airport station, connect to AirTrain Newark and ride directly to your airport terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Option 2: Shuttle service. . There are two officially approved shuttle services that run between these airports. You can find them listed on this extremely helpful page from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Options and prices vary greatly. For example, you could pay around $30 per person for a shared ride, or $135 for a private/group shuttle.

Option 3: A taxi. You can take a taxi from the easy-to-locate taxi stand (just follow the signs) at either airport. Taxi fare will probably cost around $115 or more.

Option 4: Private car service (or Uber or Lyft). There aren’t any Port Authority-approved private car services, although there is a car service desk where you can hire one directly at either airport. This site offers some very helpful advice on choosing a reliable private car service. Getting quotes in advance and checking out online travel forum reviews are also good ideas.

…LaGuardia and Newark

Option 1: Public Transit or a shuttle and AirTrain Newark

AirTrain is a train that connects the different terminals at Newark Liberty Airport. It also stops at a public transit line, allowing you to connect to a regular New Jersey Transit train that will take you to New York Penn Station. If you’re going the opposite way, when you arrive at New York Penn Station, find a New Jersey Transit train that stops at Newark Liberty Airport. From there, you’ll connect to the AirTrain and go directly to your terminal.

Option 2: Shuttle service. There are two officially approved shuttle services that run between these airports. You can find them listed on this extremely helpful page from The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Options and prices vary greatly. For example, you could pay around $135 for a private/group shuttle, or around $30 per person for a shared shuttle.

Option 3: A taxi. You can take a taxi from the easy-to-locate taxi stand (just follow the signs) at either airport. Taxi fare will probably cost around $86 or more.

Option 4: Private car service (or Uber or Lyft). There aren’t any Port Authority-approved private car services, although there is a car services desk where you can hire one directly at either airport. This site offers some very helpful advice on choosing a reliable private car service. Getting quotes in advance and checking out online travel forum reviews is also a good idea.

Transferring between New York City-area airports may not be the easiest thing, but if you have to, you can do it! Take time to plan the transfer beforehand, whether it’s looking up car service estimates, or studying public transit maps to help you navigate that option. And make sure there’s a big margin of time between your two flights.

Happy and safe travels!

Alysa Salzberg is a writer and trip planner. She lives in Paris with an eccentric Frenchman, a baguette-stealing baby, and a dog-like cat. Besides them, she loves travel, books, and cookies. You can read about her adventures here, or feel free to stop by and check out her website.

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Passenger and Cabin Tips

Infant Travel

Infant tickets for children not reaching 24 months on the return flight typically cost up to 10% of adult fare when the infant stays in your lap or in an airline provided bassinet. On most long haul flights you can get a free bassinet for infants weighing up to 22 lbs (10kg). Bassinets may be requested on Fareboom.com at the time of booking the infant passenger using the Assistance request form. Some US carriers do not provide bassinets (Delta, American Airlines - except on Boeing 777). Better foreign carriers are typically more child friendly. On long haul flights you might consider booking infants older than 6 months as children and pay for their own seat, typically costing 70% of adult fare. You should bring your own approved car seat onboard when purchasing a child seat.

Cabin Selection

We prefer booking Premium Economy on long haul international flights when it costs up to 50% more than the lowest available coach class fare. Foreign carriers, such as British Airways, Virgin, Air New Zealand, Air France, Qantas, Eva Air, ANA and Japan Airlines are our favorites. Premium Economy has wider seats, a foot rest and slightly better service to help you get to the destination refreshed and relaxed.

For deeper pockets Business class on long haul flights is king. Ensure that you pick the right airline with lie-flat seats. Paying the Business class premium for partially reclinable seats does not make much sense so you might pick Premium Economy instead (when available).

Flight Search Tips

Multi-city and Stopover Savings

We let you see and do more for less by providing virtually free stopovers in major cities on the way to your destination. Say you are going from New York to Rome but would like to stopover in London or Paris on the cheap. Simply create three flights: 1) NYC-LON, 2) LON-ROM and 3) ROM-NYC. You can get even more creative by adding another flight stopping in Paris on the return. You may decide to see more of Italy and head north to return from Venice instead of Rome. Simply search as follows: 1) NYC-LON, 2) LON-ROM and 3) VCE-NYC. Our powerful search will try to optimize the fare to apply a single, low round trip price even when you stop at major airports or when you return from a different city than your arrival.

Five leg search tip: When you’ve got to visit many places you might find that booking four legs plus one separately is cheaper than five at once due to search limitations. Try booking up to four legs with a separate one way booking for the fifth and compare with a full five leg search to see which combination yields a better total price.

Radius Search

You likely noticed cool sliders above From/To airport selectors. They let you search for lower fares up to 175 miles around your origin or destination. This feature is especially useful when your origin or destination airport is surrounded by larger airports that might have considerably lower fares due to their size. This feature is especially useful in densely populated areas, such as within Europe where driving 100 miles to an alternate airport might mean several hundred dollars in savings. Combine Radius search with Best Value sorting on Flight Results page to ensure that the cost of driving to alternate airports is considered when picking the best flight.

When to book

This is something we get asked a lot. That’s why we developed a unique fare analysis tool called the Real Deal. Look for the orange Real Deal logo displayed with select flights. When you see it - book it, because the price will most likely not get any better. As a rule of thumb the best time to book depends on fare seasonality that is based on destination seasons. Winter is typically cheapest with summer being the most expensive, except for peak Christmas season when airlines are anything but generous with discount seats. To get the best deal you should book low season up to three months in advance and high season up to six months in advance. If you know that you need to go on a particular date in the future and want to play it safe book up to eight months in advance. If you don’t really care about specific dates wait a bit longer and look out for the Real Deal right here on Fareboom.com – it just doesn’t get any better.